Property developer London & Scottish Investments (L&SI) has unveiled plans to create around 100 new jobs in Barrhead by transforming the derelict Nestle dog food factory site in Glasgow Road into a state of the art retail park.

The £12 million, 57,000 sq ft development will also create 40 construction jobs during the year-long build period, with measures in place to try and ensure as many as possible of the new jobs go to local people.

The new site, which has lain cleared but derelict for the last ten years, will now add a huge new dimension to the retail and leisure services the town has to offer.

Retailer B&M is already committed to opening its first ever store in Barrhead on the site and will occupy a 20,000 square feet store together with a 7,500 square feet garden centre.

L&SI is also in advance discussions with a major national food retailer and are poised to reveal full details in the near future.

On the leisure front, Barrhead’s new Glasgow Road Retail Park will chalk up another first for the town with two drive-thru restaurants, one for food and the other for coffee. There will also be pub, with a family friendly restaurant. Occupiers will be announced in coming months.

The driving force behind the new development is former Barrhead boy Bryan Wilson, the development director with L&SI.

Mr Wilson who successfully developed the Waitrose-anchored development at Greenlaw in Newton Mearns, before joining L&SI, is delighted to be back doing business with East Renfrewshire Council again.

He is particularly looking forward to be working in due course with the local authority’s Work EastRen initiative regarding local job creation opportunities in the new development. L&SI will encourage its new retailers to work with Work EastRen.

Mr Wilson added: “I believe the new Glasgow Road Retail Park will be a massive boost for this part of Barrhead and the town in general.

“It builds on Barrhead’s success over recent years in securing major private and public regeneration developments in the town centre.

“The Retail Park development is significant, not just in terms of bringing an old centre of employment back to life, removing a derelict blot on landscape, while providing magnificent new retail and leisure services.

“Most of all it provides a tremendous jobs boost for the town, especially since these new retail and leisure jobs are high quality, secure posts.”

Mr Wilson said that the planning application for the new retail park is due to be heard by East Renfrewshire’s planning committee, hopefully by November at the latest which would allow work to start on the site early in the New Year.